Required TextMalec, T. & Newman, M. (2013). Research methods Bu.docx

Required Text
Malec, T. & Newman, M. (2013). Research methods: Building a
knowledge base. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
ISBN-13: 9781621785743, ISBN-10: 1621785742.
Section 1.6 Writing a Research Proposal
Chapter 3: Qualitative and Descriptive Designs – Observing
Behavior
Section 5.3: Experimental Validity: A Note on Qualitative
Research Validity and Reliability
Appendix: Example of a Research Proposal
1.6 Writing a Research Proposal
After reviewing the literature and putting considerable thought i
nto planning a study, the next step is to prepare a research prop
osal. The goalof any research proposal is to present a detailed d
escription about the research problem and the methods with whi
ch you think that theresearch should be conducted. Research pro
posals are extremely important because they are key to unlockin
g the research project (Leedy &Ormrod, 2010). They may deter
mine whether you receive approval or funding, so they need to c
learly articulate the purpose of the researchand persuade the aud
ience it is worthwhile. If research proposals do not clearly and s
pecifically define the research problem and methods, theproject
might not be accepted. Therefore, it is imperative that the resear
ch proposal include "a clearly conceived goal and thorough, obj
ectiveevaluation of all aspects of the research endeavor" (Leedy
& Ormrod, 2010, p. 117).
Research proposals can range from three pages for some grant a

pplications to more than 30 pages (e.g., for a dissertation or fed
eral grant).They may or may not require an abstract and will ha
ve a different format for institutional review board (IRB) appro
val (see Section 1.7, Ethics inResearch). For our purposes, in ge
neral, research proposals follow a standard format. The followin
g is an example you might use:
1. Title/Cover Page
2. Abstract
3. Introduction or Statement of the Problem
a. The research problem
b. The statement of the problem and possible subproblems
c. The purpose statement
d. Hypotheses and/or research questions
e. Independent and dependent variables
f. The assumptions
g. The importance of the study
4. Review of the Literature
5. Method
a. Research methodology
b. Participants and participant selection
c. Data collection procedures
d. Data analysis techniques
6. Discussion
a. Strengths and limitations
b. Ethical considerations
7. References
8. Appendixes
Research proposals are written like research articles in APA styl
e, which is favored in academia. The language must be clear and
precise, inparagraph format, and written in a professional, acad
emic manner. Unlike stories or memoirs, proposals are not inten
ded to be creative literaryworks; rather, they should set down ce
rtain facts. Organized with headings and subheadings, the propo
sal should clearly and specifically explainthe research problem,
who the participants will be and how they will be selected, what
data collection methods will be used, and how the datawill be a

nalyzed and interpreted. Research proposals are required for all
theses and dissertations. If you are currently working on a maste
r'sthesis or doctoral dissertation, your university or committee c
hair may have a specific format for you to follow that may diffe
r slightly from theformat presented in this book. An example of
an APA formatted proposal is provided in the Appendix.
Formatting the Research Proposal
As mentioned previously, research proposals are written in APA
style and follow an organized format. Although there are differ
ent ways toformat a proposal, most follow a similar format to th
e one that is discussed in this book. The following sections will
discuss the specifics offormatting of your proposal as well as th
e content that should be included within each section.
Headings and Subheadings
Writing a proposal in APA style may seem complicated at first;
however, the format is similar to a research paper or any acade
mic paper that isrequired to be written in APA style. APA style
uses a unique heading and subheading system that separates and
classifies sections of researchpapers. The Publication Manual o
f the American Psychological Association Sixth Edition (2010)
utilizes five heading levels; although all headinglevels may not
be used, it is important to follow them in sequential order:
·
Level 1: Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
· Level 2: Left-
aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
·
Level 3: Indented five spaces, boldface, lowercase heading with
a period. For Level 3 headings, the body text begins after the p
eriod.
·
Level 4: Indented five spaces, boldface, italicized, lowercase he
ading with a period. For Level 4 headings, the body text begins
after theperiod.
·
Level 5: Indented five spaces, italicized, lowercase heading wit

h a period. For Level 5 headings, the body text begins after the
period.
Section headings such as Review of the Literature, Methods, an
d so forth, are Level 1 headings. Subsection headings such as Pa
rticipants, DataCollection, and so on, that follow under the secti
on heading Methods, for example, are Level 2 headings. Subsect
ions of subsection headings areLevel 3 through Level 5. The fol
lowing is an example of the various heading levels you might us
e in your research proposal:
Introduction (Level 1)
The Research Problem (Level 2)
Purpose of the Study (Level 2)
Hypotheses and/or Research Questions (Level 2)
Independent and Dependent Variables (Level 2)
Assumptions (Level 2)
Importance of the Study (Level 2)
Review of the Literature (Level 1)
The Cognitive Profile of Learning Disabilities in Reading (Leve
l 2)
The Cognitive Profile of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disord
er (Level 2)
Method (Level 1)
Research Methodology (Level 2)
Participants (Level 2)
Data Collection (Level 2)
Instrumentation. (Level 3)
WISC-IV. (Level 4)
WISC-IV PI. (Level 4)
Data Analysis (Level 2)
Discussion (Level 1)
Strengths and Limitations (Level 2)
Ethical Considerations (Level 2)
References (Level 1)
Appendix (Level 1)
An important guideline to remember is that you should be consi
stent in your use of heading levels throughout the research prop

osal. Thus, allheadings with equal importance should follow the
same heading level.
The Title Page
A title page is required for all research proposals as its first pag
e. In general, title pages include a running head with the page n
umber, as wellas the abbreviated title of the paper, the student's
name, and the university or institution name. Although some uni
versities may have specificrequirements regarding how the title
page is formatted, the following is formatted according to APA
style:
Running head: PREMORBID COGNITIVE ABILITIES
1
Estimation of Premorbid Cognitive Abilities in
Children with Traumatic Brain Injury
Graduate Student
Research University
The running head is a shortened version of the full title and is i
ncluded in the top margin of the page. The running head is set fl
ush left withthe abbreviated title in all capital letters. On the sa
me line of the running head, the page number is set flush right.
The title of the paper, thestudent's name, and the university affil
iation are centered approximately in the middle of the page and
formatted in uppercase and lowercaseletters. It is recommended
that titles include no more than 12 words.
The Abstract Page
The abstract page is page two of your paper. An abstract is a su
mmary of your proposal and should include the research proble
m, theparticipants, data collection methods, and any hypotheses
or research questions. Abstracts for research proposals are gener
ally between 150and 250 words in length.
The abstract should contain your running head title from the titl
e page as well as the page number. As shown in the example, th
e first word ofthe abstract is not indented. Thus, the entire abstr
act is set flush left. Please keep in mind that the title "running h
ead" is dropped after pageone and only the abbreviated title and
page number are included, as shown below:

PREMORBID COGNITIVE ABILITIES
2
Abstract
The present study will review currently available methods for es
timating premorbid intellectual abilities inchildren. It examines
the potential of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–
Fourth Edition (WISC–
IV;Wechsler, 2003) as an estimate of premorbid IQ in children
with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Archival data willbe obtained
from a sample of 2,200 children aged 6:0–
16:11 who participated in the standardization phase ofthe WISC
–IV and 43 children aged 6:0–
16:11 with a history of moderate or severe TBI who participated
in aWISC–
IV special group study. First, demographic variables including s
ex, ethnicity, parent education level, andgeographic region will
be entered into a regression analysis to determine a demographi
c-based premorbidprediction equation for the WISC–
IV Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ). Second, a logistic re
gressionanalysis will be used to investigate which WISC–
IV subtest–
scaled scores improve the differential diagnosis ofTBI versus a
matched control group. Third, analysis of variance (ANOVA) wi
ll be used to examine whichsubtests yielded the lowest mean sco
res for the TBI group. It is expected that parental education will
be thestrongest predictor of premorbid IQ and that individuals
with TBI will have lower scores on Processing Speedand Worki
ng Memory indices.
The Introduction Section
The Introduction section begins on page three of your proposal.
The primary purpose of the Introduction section is to introduce t
he reader tothe nature of the study by including necessary backg
round that describes and supports your research problem. The in
troduction generallyincludes a statement of the research proble
m, any potential subproblems, the purpose statement, hypothese
s and/or research questions,identification of the variables, assu

mptions of the study, and importance of the study. The introduct
ion typically begins with a statement of theresearch problem are
a and is followed by a justification for your proposed study. Onl
y research needed to explain the purpose of or need foryour stud
y should be included in this section.
As discussed previously, the purpose statement should include t
he focus, population, and methodology of the study. Depending
upon whetheryour research is quantitative or qualitative, you wi
ll want to include your hypotheses and/or research questions ne
xt and discuss how yourhypotheses and/or research questions rel
ate to your research problem and purpose statement. You should
next review the key independent anddependent variables, follo
wed by a discussion of the assumptions you will make about the
research and how the research will be expected tocontribute to t
he field.
The length of the introduction can vary based on your university
, committee chair, or instructor's requirements. In general, the i
ntroductionsection ranges anywhere from 3 to 5 pages to 15 to 2
5 pages. The more detailed information you include in your pro
posal, the closer you willbe to completing your thesis or dissert
ation.
The Literature Review Section
The primary purpose of the literature review is to provide theor
etical perspectives and previous research findings on the researc
h problem youhave selected (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010). As a rese
archer, you should investigate your topic extremely well so that
you have a thoroughunderstanding about the research problem a
rea. Thus, your literature review should contain both breadth an
d depth, and clarity and rigor, inorder to support the need for yo
ur research to be conducted. Any reader of your literature revie
w should be able to comprehend theimportance of your research
problem and the difference the research will make to the field.
Keep in mind that a literature review is not simplya collection o
f summaries, abstracts, or annotated bibliographies but rather a t
horough analysis and synthesized review of the research and ho
weach piece of research builds upon the other.

According to Levy and Ellis (2006), a literature review should g
o through the following steps: (a) methodologically analyze and
synthesize qualityliterature, (b) provide a firm foundation to a r
esearch topic, (c) provide a firm foundation to the selection of r
esearch methodology, and (d)demonstrate that the proposed rese
arch contributes something new to the overall body of knowledg
e or advances the research field'sknowledge base (p. 182). Reme
mber: Your literature review should provide a theoretical found
ation and justification for your proposed study.
A good literature review does not simply report the literature bu
t evaluates, organizes, and synthesizes it (Leedy & Ormrod, 201
0). Whenreading and reviewing existing literature, it is importa
nt to critically evaluate what has already been done and what th
e findings showed. Do notjust take what the authors say at face
value; instead, evaluate whether the findings support the method
s that were used and the analyses thatwere conducted.
In addition to evaluating the literature, you must organize it. Th
is means grouping the literature according to your subproblem a
reas, researchquestions, or variables being assessed. For exampl
e, if conducting a study on the demographic predictors of specia
l education, you would wantto group your literature based on th
e various demographic variables and the influences that they ma
y have on placement in special education.Finally and most impo
rtantly, you must synthesize the diverse perspectives and resear
ch results you've read into a cohesive whole (Leedy &Ormrod, 2
010). Leedy and Ormrod (2010) discuss several approaches to s
ynthesizing information, including the following:
· comparing and contrasting the literature
· showing how the literature has changed over time
· identifying trends or similarities in research findings
·
identifying discrepancies or contradictions in research findings
· locating similar themes across the literature
The following example shows a paragraph synthesizing the liter
ature. Note that the review does not include summaries of the ar
ticles but ratherdisplays similarities found in the research:

Several studies have examined the relationship between demogr
aphic variables and cognitive functioning.Research has shown t
hat demographic variables such as socioeconomic status and edu
cation level are closelyrelated to scores on cognitive tests and c
ontribute significantly to variance in IQ scores (Crawford, 1992
;Kaufman, 1990). Utilizing this close relationship, Wilson et al.
(1978) developed the first regression equation topredict premor
bid IQ using the WAIS standardization sample. The equation inc
luded age, sex, race, education,and occupation and accounted fo
r 53% of the variance in the Verbal IQ, 42% of the variance in t
hePerformance IQ, and 54% of the variance in the Full Scale IQ
. Cross-
validation studies have confirmed theWilson et al. equation to b
e a useful predictor of premorbid IQ. The equation has been use
d to predictoutcome from closed head injury (Williams, Gomes,
Drudge, & Kessler, 1984), to estimate British WAIS scores(Cra
wford, Stewart et al., 1989), and to estimate premorbid function
ing among healthy adults (Goldstein, Gary,and Levin, 1986). Al
though the use and application of Wilson's formula has tended t
o overpredict high scoresand underpredict low scores, the formu
la appears to provide adequate predictions for those within thea
verage range of functioning.
An example of a compare-and-
contrast synthesized review would look like the following:
As with all regression-
based methods, a number of limitations are present in the use of
demographic-
basedprediction models. As Karzmark, Heaton, Grant, and Matt
hews (1985) found in their use of the Wilson et al.formula to pr
edict WAIS IQ scores, demographic equations tend to overestim
ate and underestimate IQ scoresfor individuals who are one stan
dard deviation or more from the population mean. Research has
shown strongcorrelations between specific demographic variabl
es and measured IQ scores, but Bolter, Gouvier, Veneklasen,and
Long (1982) found the Wilson et al. equation to be limited in it
s ability to predict groups of head injuredindividuals and contro

ls.
On the other hand, Wilson, Rosenbaum, and Brown (1979) comp
ared the hold method of the DeteriorationIndex developed by W
echsler in 1958 against Wilson's 1978 demographic equation an
d found the Wilson et al.formula to have a 73% accuracy of clas
sification, while the Wechsler method resulted in only 62% accu
racy.Although the demographic-
based method may have mixed results at an individual level, cro
ss-
validationstudies have shown them to do an adequate job of pre
dicting mean IQ scores at the group level (Vanderploeg,1994).
Remember that writing a literature review takes time and organi
zation. It is important that you thoroughly review the relevant li
terature youuncovered in your key term search. This can be a pa
instaking endeavor, but the search should not conclude until you
are reasonably sure youhave researched all the critical viewpoi
nts of your research problem. It is also helpful to develop an out
line of topics you plan on addressing.
Finally, note that a good literature review is not plagiarized or c
opied and pasted from other sources, as the Internet makes so te
mpting. Whenreviewing literature, be sure you summarize the in
formation in your own words and give credit where credit is due
. It is sometimes helpful toread the literature and then develop s
ummaries of the articles in your own words. You can then use th
ese summaries to develop your literaturereview. Keep in mind t
hat your literature review is a working draft that will be modifie
d and perfected throughout the research process.
The Method Section
The method section includes a detailed description of the metho
d of inquiry (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed design approach
); researchmethodology used; the sample; data collection proced
ures; and data analysis techniques. The key purpose of the meth
od section is to discussyour design and the specific steps and pr
ocedures you plan to follow in order to complete your study. A
detailed description of methods isessential in any research prop
osal because it allows others to examine the efficacy of the stud

y as well as replicate it in the future.
Research Methodology
This section discusses whether quantitative, qualitative, or a mi
xed design approach was used and the rationale for choosing thi
s method ofinquiry. It also includes specific information on the
selected research methodology. For example, will your study be
utilizing experimentalmethods, quasi-
experimental methods, or observational methods? And what is t
he purpose for selecting that method or methods? Rememberthat
you should be making an argument and justifying the type of re
search methodology you plan to use, regardless of the type of in
quiry.
Participants
The participant section describes the population of interest and t
he sample that will be used. In quantitative studies, the sample i
s intended torepresent the larger population and tends to be larg
er in size than for qualitative studies. In qualitative studies, the
sample may be a smallnumber of participants or even only one p
articipant and is not intended to represent the larger population.
In both quantitative and qualitativestudies, this section should
discuss the sample in detail: the population you want to learn ab
out; where participants will be recruited or studied;how the part
icipants will be notified about the study; how the participants w
ill be selected (e.g., what type of sampling method will be used,
such as random sampling, snowball sampling, etc.); what criteri
a will be required for inclusion in the study (e.g., age, level of e
ducationobtained, marital status, employment position); and the
overall proposed size of the sample. For quantitative studies, wh
en discussing thesample, it is also important to include which de
mographic information (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, level of edu
cation, socioeconomic status) youwill need to create a represent
ative sample of the entire population. A representative sample e
nsures that the results can be generalized to theentire population
as a whole.
Data Collection Procedures
The data collection section describes how the data will be collec

ted, step by step. This section should detail how informed conse
nt will beobtained from the participants, when the data will be c
ollected and for how long, and what methods or measures will b
e used to collect thedata. Remember: Providing detailed informa
tion is crucial to ensure that others can follow your study and re
plicate it in the future. Thus, thissection should include a step-
by-
step description of each of the procedures you will follow to car
ry out the data collection. Describe the datacollection forms you
will use, as well as any survey, research, or testing instruments
you may use or develop to collect the data, and therationale for
utilizing such procedures. Copies of any forms or instruments u
sed should be included in the Appendix section of your research
proposal.
Data Analysis
The data analysis section includes a brief step-by-
step description of how the data will be analyzed as well as wha
t statistical methods or othermethods of analysis and software w
ill be utilized. If you are doing quantitative method research, yo
u will want to discuss how the data will beentered into a statisti
cal software program, how the data will be kept confidential, an
d what statistical analyses will be run. If using qualitativemetho
ds, you will want to discuss the type of qualitative method used,
the interview type, interview questions, sample type (e.g., rand
om,convenience), how the data will be reviewed (e.g., how inter
views or observations will be reviewed or transcribed), and how
the data will becoded.
The Discussion Section
As emphasized throughout this chapter, one of the most importa
nt characteristics of a research proposal is to make a strong case
for or justifythe need to study your research problem. In doing
so, you will want to discuss the strengths of your research study
as well as any limitationsand ethical issues that will need to be
considered. It should be noted that some universities require thi
s information to be included in theMethod section. In those case
s, you would include strengths, limitations, and ethical consider

ations after the Data Analysis heading in theMethod section.
Strengths and Limitations
This section is fairly straightforward. It should discuss the impli
cations for future research, practice, and theory as well as any p
otentiallimitations that might impact the research process or res
ults. Some limitations may include difficulty in obtaining partic
ipants, difficulty inobtaining a representative sample, or time an
d financial constraints.
Ethical Considerations
This section should include any potential issues that might be c
onsidered ethical dilemmas. For example, if studying minors, ho
w will you obtainconsent and ensure confidentiality? If studying
certain employees, how will you keep information from their su
pervisors? Or if your study maytrigger emotional trauma, such a
s memories about abuse, how will you reduce any stress or nega
tive feelings that occur during the study?
The References Section
This section should include all references that were cited within
your proposal in alphabetical order and using APA style. Only
references usedwithin your proposal should be included on the
References page; conversely, there should be no references liste
d on the References page thatwere not cited in your proposal.
It is important to list all references in correct APA format. The
following examples show how to correctly cite journal articles,
websites, andbooks according to the APA Publication Manual Si
xth Edition:
Example of a journal article with the document ID number inclu
ded:
Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations: An
annotated bibliography. European Journal of Marketing, 41, 124
5–1283.doi:10.1108/03090560710821161
Example of a journal article with no document ID assigned to it:
Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature of hum
an rights. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 8. Retrieved fromhttp://w
ww.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html
Example of a print (or hardcopy) journal article:

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology jo
urnal articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psycho
logy, 55, 893–896.
Example of a textbook:
Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing
manuscripts for journal publication. Washington, DC: America
n PsychologicalAssociation.
Example of a chapter in a textbook:
O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men's and women's gender rol
e journeys: A metaphor for healing, transition, and transformati
on. In B. R.Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (p
p. 107–123). New York, NY: Springer.
Example of a website:
Keys, J. P. (1997). Research design in occupational education.
Retrieved from http://www.okstate.edu
The Appendix Section
The Appendix section should include a copy of any forms that w
ill be used during your research. These include consent forms, i
nstructions forparticipants, and any additional tables or figures t
hat might supplement study information but not provide additio
nal data (e.g., a table ofsubtests included within an instrument y
ou plan to use).Chapter 3
Qualitative and Descriptive Designs—ObservingBehavior
John Foxx/Stockbyte/ThinkstockChapter Contents
· Qualitative and Descriptive Research Designs
· Qualitative Research Interviews
· Critiquing a Qualitative Study
· Writing the Qualitative Research Proposal
· Describing Data in Descriptive Research
In the fall of 2009, Phoebe Prince and her family relocated from
Ireland to South Hadley, Massachusetts. Phoebe was immediate
ly singled outby bullies at her new high school and subjected to
physical threats, insults about her Irish heritage, and harassing
posts on her Facebook page.This relentless bullying continued u
ntil January of 2010, ending only because Phoebe elected to tak

e her own life in order to escape hertormentors (United Press Int
ernational, 2011). Tragic stories like this one are all too commo
n, and it should come as no surprise that theCenters for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) have identified bullying as a seri
ous problem facing our nation's children and adolescents(Center
s for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2012).
Scientific research on bullying began in Norway in the late 197
0s in response to a wave of teen suicides. Work begun by psych
ologist DanOlweus—and since continued by many others—
has documented both the frequency and the consequences of bul
lying in the school system.Thus, we know that approximately on
e third of children are victims of bullying at some point during
development, with between 5% and 10%bullied on a regular bas
is (Griffin & Gross, 2004; Nansel et al., 2001). Victimization by
bullies has been linked to a wide range of emotional andbehavi
oral problems, including depression, anxiety, self-
reported health problems, and an increased risk of both violent
behavior and suicide (fora detailed review, see Griffin & Gross,
2004). Recent research even suggests that bullying during adol
escence may have a lasting impact on thebody's physiological st
ress response (Hamilton et al., 2008).
But most of this research has a common limitation: It has studie
d the phenomenon of bullying using self-
report survey measures. That is,researchers typically ask student
s and teachers to describe the extent of bullying in the schools o
r have students fill out a collection of surveymeasures, describi
ng in their own words both bullying experiences and psychologi
cal functioning. These studies are conducted rigorously, andthe
measures they use certainly meet the criteria of reliability and v
alidity that we discussed in Chapter 2 (Section 2.2, Reliability a
nd Validity).However, as Wendy Craig, Professor of Psychology
at Queen's University, and Debra Pepler, a Distinguished Profe
ssor at York University,suggested in a 1997 article, this questio
nnaire approach is unable to capture the full context of bullying
behaviors. And, as we have alreadydiscussed, self-
report measures are fully dependent on people's ability to answe

r honestly and accurately.
In order to address this limitation, Craig and Pepler (1997) deci
ded to observe bullying behaviors as they occurred naturally on
the playground.Among other things, the researchers found that a
cts of bullying occurred approximately every 7 minutes, lasted o
nly about 38 seconds, andtended to occur within 120 feet of the
school building. They also found that peers intervened to try to
stop the bullying more than twice asoften as adults did (11% ver
sus 4%, respectively). These findings add significantly to scient
ific understanding of when and how bullying occurs.And for our
purposes, the most notable thing about them is that none of the
findings could have been documented without directly observin
gand recording bullying behaviors on the playground. By using t
his technique, the researchers were able to gain a more thorough
understandingof the phenomenon of bullying and thus able to p
rovide real-
world advice to teachers and parents. Qualitative research is val
uable when thenature of a phenomenon such as bullying, its sign
s, symptoms, dynamics, and emotional consequences are not wel
l understood.
One recurring theme in this book is that it is absolutely critical t
o pick the right research design to address your hypothesis. Ove
r the next threechapters, we will be discussing three specific cat
egories of research designs, proceeding in order of increasing c
ontrol over elements of thedesign: descriptive designs, quasi-
experimental designs, and true experimental designs. This chapt
er will also focus on qualitative researchdesigns that have simil
ar levels of control as the case study, in which the primary goal
is to examine phenomena of interest in great detail. Wewill begi
n by discussing qualitative designs, including ethnography stud
y, phenomenological study, and grounded theory study. We will
thendiscuss three prominent examples of descriptive designs tha
t can be used in either qualitative or quantitative approaches—
case studies, archivalresearch, and observational research—
covering the basic concepts, the pros and cons, and contrasting
qualitative and quantitative approachesof each design (see Figur

e 3.1). We go on to discuss interview techniques and then offer
guidelines for presenting descriptive data in graphical,numerical
, and narrative form. Finally, we show how to critique a study a
nd write a proposal for qualitative research projects.Figure 3.1:
Qualitative and descriptive research on the continuum of control
3.1 Qualitative and Descriptive Research Designs
We learned in Chapter 1 that researchers generally take one of t
wo broad approaches to answering their research questions. Qua
ntitativeresearch is a systematic, empirical approach that attemp
ts to generalize results to other contexts, whereas qualitative res
earch is a moredescriptive approach that attempts to gain a deep
understanding of particular cases and contexts. Before we discu
ss specific examples of bothqualitative and descriptive designs,
it is important to understand that descriptive designs can repres
ent either quantitative or qualitativeperspectives, whereas qualit
ative designs represent only qualitative perspectives. In this sec
tion, we examine the qualitative and descriptiveapproaches in m
ore detail.
In Chapter 1, we used the analogy of studying traffic patterns to
contrast qualitative and quantitative methods—
a quantitative researcher woulddo a "flyover" and perform a stat
istical analysis, whereas a qualitative researcher would likely st
udy a single busy intersection in detail. Thisillustrates a key poi
nt about the latter approach. All qualitative approaches have tw
o characteristics in common: (1) Focusing on phenomenathat oc
cur in natural or real-
world settings; and (2) studying those phenomena in their compl
exity.
Qualitative researchers focus on interpreting and making sense
out of what they observe rather than trying to simplify and quan
tify theseobservations. In general, qualitative research involves
collecting interviews, recordings, and observations made in a na
tural setting. Regardless ofthe overall approach (qualitative or q
uantitative), however, collecting data in the real world results in

less control and structure than doescollecting data in a laborato
ry setting. But whereas quantitative researchers might view redu
ced control as a threat to reliability and validity,qualitative rese
archers view it as a strength of the study because the phenomen
on of interest is being studied in its natural environment. Bycon
ducting observations in a natural setting, it is possible to captur
e people's natural and unfiltered responses. The concepts of reli
ability andvalidity for both qualitative and quantitative approac
hes are discussed further in Chapter 5.
As an example, consider two studies on the ways people respon
d to traumatic events. In a 1993 paper, psychologists James Pen
nebaker andKent Harber took a quantitative approach to examini
ng the community-
wide impact of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (centered in th
e SanFrancisco Bay Area). These researchers conducted phone s
urveys of 789 area residents, asking people to indicate, using a
10-
point scale, howoften they "thought about" and "talked about" t
he earthquake during the 3-
month period after its occurrence. In analyzing these data,Penne
baker and Harber discovered that people tend to stop talking ab
out traumatic events about 2 weeks after they occur but keep thi
nkingabout the event for approximately 4 more weeks. That is, t
he event is still on people's minds, but they decide to stop discu
ssing it with otherpeople. In a follow-
up study using the 1991 Gulf War, these researchers found that t
his conflict between thoughts and their verbalization leadsto an
increased risk of illness (Pennebaker & Harber, 1993). Thus, the
goal of the study was to gather data in a controlled manner and
test a setof hypotheses about community responses to trauma.
Contrast this approach with the more qualitative one taken by th
e developmental psychologist Paul Miller and colleagues (2012)
, who used aqualitative approach to study the ways that parents
model coping behavior for their children. These researchers con
ducted semistructuredinterviews of 24 parents whose families h
ad been evacuated following the 2007 wildfires in San Diego Co

unty and an additional 32 parentswhose families had been evacu
ated following a 2008 series of deadly tornadoes in Tennessee.
Owing to a lack of prior research on how parentsteach their chil
dren to cope with trauma, Miller and colleagues approached thei
r interviews with the goal of "documenting and describing" (p.8
) these processes. That is, rather than attempt to impose structur
e and test a strict hypothesis, the researchers focused on learnin
g from theseinterviews and letting the interviewees' perspective
s drive the acquisition of knowledge.
Qualitative research is undertaken in many academic disciplines
, including, psychology, sociology, anthropology, biology, educ
ation, history, andmedicine (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010). Although
once frowned upon in the fields of psychology and education, d
ue to their subjective nature,qualitative techniques have gained
wide acceptance as legitimate research. In fact, many researcher
s argue that qualitative research is thebeginning step to all types
of inquiry. Thus, qualitative research can explore unknown topi
cs, unknown variables, and inadequate theory basesand thereby
assist in the generating of hypotheses for future quantitative stu
dies.
Unlike quantitative studies, qualitative studies do not allow the
researcher to identify cause-and-
effect relationships among variables. Rather, thefocus is on desc
ribing, interpreting, verifying, and evaluating phenomena, such
as personal experiences, events, and behaviors, in their naturale
nvironment. The most common forms of qualitative data collecti
on techniques are observations, interviews, videotapes, focus gr
oups, anddocument review. Creswell (2009) lists the following c
haracteristics as generally present in most types of qualitative r
esearch:
· Data collection occurs in the natural or real-
world setting where participants experience the issue or proble
m being investigated.
·
The researcher is the key instrument used to collect data throug
h means of examining documents, observing behavior, or intervi

ewingparticipants.
· Multiple sources of data are collected and reviewed.
·
As discussed in Chapter 1, qualitative researchers use inductive
data analysis and build patterns and themes from the bottom up.
·
Focus is on understanding the participants' experiences, not on
what the researcher believes those experiences mean.
·
The research process is emergent and can change after the resea
rcher enters the field and begins collecting data.
·
Researchers as well as participants and readers interpret what th
ey see, hear, and understand. This results in multiple views of t
he problem.
·
Researchers attempt to develop a complex picture of the proble
m under investigation, utilizing multiple methods of data collect
ion.
Descriptive research does not fit neatly into the categories of eit
her qualitative or quantitative methodologies; instead, it can util
ize qualitative,quantitative, or a mixture of both methods to des
cribe and interpret events, conditions, behaviors, feelings, and s
ituations. In all cases,descriptive research investigates situation
s as they are, and similar to qualitative designs, does not involv
e changing (controlling) the situationunder investigation or atte
mpting to determine cause-and-
effect relationships. However, unlike qualitative designs, descri
ptive designs usuallyyield quantitative data that can be analyzed
using statistical analyses. That is, descriptive research gathers
data that describe events and thenorganizes, tabulates, depicts, a
nd describes the collected data, often using visual aids such as g
raphs, tables, and charts.
Collecting data for descriptive research can be done with a singl
e method or a variety of methods, depending upon the research
questions. Themost common data collection methods utilized in

descriptive research include surveys, interviews, observations, a
nd portfolios. In general,descriptive research often yields rich d
ata that can lead to important recommendations and findings.
In the following six sections, we examine six specific examples
of qualitative and descriptive designs: ethnography, phenomenol
ogical studies,grounded theory studies, case studies, archival re
search, and observational research. The sections on ethnography
, phenomenological studies,and grounded theory studies will foc
us specifically on the qualitative uses of these methods, since th
ese are qualitative-
only research methods.Because case studies, archival research,
and observational research share the goals of describing attitude
s, feelings, and behaviors, each one canbe undertaken from eith
er a quantitative or a qualitative perspective. In other words, qu
alitative and quantitative researchers use many of thesame gener
al methods but do so with different ends in mind. To illustrate t
his flexibility, we will end these three sections with a paragraph
thatcontrasts qualitative and quantitative uses of the particular
method.
Ethnography Study (Qualitative Design)
Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock
Employees who are part of an officeculture
are an example of those whomight be studied in an ethnography.
Ethnographies were first developed by anthropologists to exami
ne human society and various culturalgroups but are now freque
ntly used in the sociology, psychology, and education fields. In
fact, todayethnographies are probably the most widely used qual
itative method for researching social and culturalconditions. Un
like case studies (which will be discussed later in this chapter) t
hat examine a particularperson or event, ethnographies focus on
an entire cultural group or a group that shares a commonculture
. Although culture has various definitions, it usually refers to "t
he beliefs, values and attitudesthat shape the behavior of a parti
cular group of people" (Merriam & Associates, 2002, p. 8). The

conceptof what a culture is has also changed over time. Recentl
y, more research has focused on smaller groups,such as classroo
ms and work offices, than on larger groups, such as northwest A
laskan Natives.
Regardless of whether the cultural group is a classroom or an en
tire ethnic group in a particular regionof the world, ethnographi
c research involves studying an entire community in order to ob
tain a holisticpicture of it. For example, in addition to studying
behaviors, researchers will examine the economic,social, and cu
ltural contexts that shape the community or were formed by the
community.
In order to thoroughly study a particular cultural group, researc
hers will often immerse themselves in thecommunity. That is, th
e researcher will live in the study community for a prolonged pe
riod andparticipate in the daily routine and activities of those be
ing studied. This is called participantobservation. Such prolonge
d involvement is necessary in order to observe and record proce
sses thatoccur over time. Participant observation is an important
data collection procedure in ethnographicresearch; thus, it is im
perative that the researcher establish rapport and build trusting r
elationships withthe individuals he or she is studying (Hennink,
Hutter, & Bailey, 2011). Establishing trusting relationshipscan
be a quite lengthy process, which is why ethnographic studies u
sually span long periods of time.
Steps in Ethnographic Research
Several steps are involved in conducting site-
based research and data collection. First, the researcher must sel
ect a site or community that willaddress the research questions
being asked. Because researchers should not have any expectati
ons regarding the outcome of the study, it isbest if the researche
r selects a site that he or she is not affiliated with. Selecting site
s that the researcher is acquainted with may make itdifficult for
him or her to study the group in an unbiased manner.
The next step involves gaining entry into the site. This can be a
difficult task, as some researchers may not be well received. Th

erefore, asuccessful entrance into a site requires having access t
o a gatekeeper, an individual "who can provide a smooth entran
ce into the site" (Leedy &Ormrod, 2010, p. 139). Gatekeepers m
ay include a principal of a school, a leader of a community, a di
rector of a company, a tribal shaman, orany other well-
respected leader of a particular cultural group.
Once inside the site, the researcher must take several delicate st
eps, including establishing rapport with individuals and forming
trustingrelationships. As mentioned previously, establishing ra
pport is one of the most critical aspects of participant observati
on and provides afoundation for the quality and quantity of data
that will be collected. Initially, establishing trust will involve i
nteracting with everyone. At somepoint, however, the researcher
will generally select key "informants" who can assist him or he
r in collecting the data. Finally, similar to all typesof research, t
he researcher will need to inform individuals about why he or sh
e is there and the purpose of the study.
As with case studies, data collection and data analysis tend to o
ccur simultaneously. Data collection may include making observ
ations, obtainingrecordings, conducting interviews, and/or colle
cting records from the group. As the information is being collec
ted, the researcher will readthrough it in great detail to obtain a
general sense of what has been collected and to reflect on what
all the data mean.
The next step is to organize the data based on events, issues, opi
nions, behaviors, and other factors and begin to analyze it by so
rting the datainto categories. The categorized information will a
llow the researcher to observe any potential patterns or common
alities that may exist, as wellas to identify any key or critical ev
ents.
In addition to categorizing and observing patterns, the researche
r will generally develop thick descriptions of the data, which "i
nvolves readingthe data and delving deeper into each issue by e
xploring its context, meaning, and the nuances that surround it"
(Hennink, Hutter, & Bailey,2011, p. 239). For example, thick de
scriptions answer questions about the data such as, What is the i

ssue? Why does it occur? When does itoccur? What are the perc
eptions about the issue? What are some explanations about the i
ssue? and, Is the issue related to other data? Thickdescriptions p
rovide additional information on potential connections and relat
ionships that will be useful during data interpretation.
Pros and Cons of Ethnography
Through extensive and expansive investigation that is often pers
onally involving for the researcher, ethnography allows the exa
mination of aparticular cultural group in great detail. This meth
od provides a holistic picture and understanding of the group as
well as diverse aspects of it.It also allows great flexibility in th
e types of data collection methods that can be used. However, as
we have seen, ethnographic researchrequires a long process of
obtaining data and, therefore, can be quite expensive and time c
onsuming. In addition, if one is not familiar with thevarious dat
a collection methods, immersing oneself into a group without a
clear idea of how to collect data from it can be overwhelming a
nddistracting.
As with all forms of participant observation, researcher bias and
participant-expectancy bias (or the participant-
observer effect) should beconsidered when examining the result
s of ethnographic research, and in all qualitative research for th
at matter. Researcher bias occurs whenthe researcher influences
the results in order to portray a certain outcome. This type of bi
as can influence how the data are collected, as well ashow it is a
nalyzed and interpreted. It can also impact what type of data is
collected, how the data are categorized, and what types ofconclu
sions are drawn from the data analysis. For example, if a researc
her is not able to lay aside his or her beliefs or assumptions, the
type ofdata collected and the conclusions that are drawn could
be biased or misleading. Also, we must take into account the inf
luence that theresearcher has on the participants' behaviors and
actions. Human nature being what it is, participants sometimes a
lter their normal behaviors tobe consistent with what they think
the researcher is expecting from them or act differently simply

because they are being observed.
Phenomenological Study (Qualitative Design)
Tyler Stableford/Iconica/Getty Images
Phenomenological studies attempt tounder-
stand what it is like to experiencea certain event, such as returni
ng homefrom war.
In the same way that ethnography focuses on cultural groups an
d their behaviors and experiences, a phenomenological study fo
cuses on the person's perceptions and understandings of an expe
rience. Aphenomenological study is one that attempts to underst
and the inner experiences of an event, such as aperson's percepti
ons, perspectives, and understandings (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010).
Phenomenologicalstudies are concerned primarily with understa
nding what it is like to experience certain events. Forexample, r
esearchers might be interested in studying the experiences of mi
litary spouses who havespouses deployed, wounded soldiers co
ming back from war, juvenile offenders' perceptions of thethera
peutic relationship in counseling, or elderly individuals being pl
aced into a nursing home. In anysituation, the idea is to better u
nderstand the subjective or personal perspectives of different pe
ople asthey experience a particular event.
Some researchers conduct phenomenologicalstudies to obtain a
more thorough understanding of anexperience that they have per
sonally gone through. Looking at an experience or phenomenon
frommultiple perspectives can allow them to generalize about w
hat it is like to experience that phenomenon.However, regardles
s of the reason for wanting to conduct the research, it is importa
nt that the researcher set aside his or her personal beliefsand att
itudes toward the experience in order to see and fully understan
d the essence of the phenomenon being studied (Merriam & Ass
ociates,2002).
Steps in Phenomenological Research
Phenomenological research is generally conducted through in-

depth, unstructured, and recorded interviews with a select partic
ipant sample (seeSection 3.2, Qualitative Research Interviews).
The sample size is usually between 5 and 25 participants who ha
ve directly experienced thephenomenon being studied (Creswell
, 1998). Unstructured interviews are conducted individually wit
h each participant, which allows theresearcher to follow the part
icipant's experiences thoroughly and ask spontaneous questions
based on what is being discussed. Generally,unstructured intervi
ews do not contain any predetermined questions, although some
researchers develop a few questions to guide theinterview, whic
h is acceptable in phenomenological research. Thus, a typical ph
enomenological interview is more like an informal conversation,
although the participant does most of the talking and the researc
her does most of the listening. In addition to listening, the resea
rcher shouldalso note any meaningful facial expressions or body
language, as these can provide additional information regarding
the intensity of a feeling orthought.
In phenomenological studies, data are usually analyzed by ident
ifying common themes across people's experiences. Themes are
created by firsttranscribing the information from the interview i
n full and then editing to remove any unnecessary content. The
next step is to group commonstatements from the interviews int
o categories that reflect the various aspects of the experience as
well as to examine any divergentperspectives among subjects.
The final step is to develop an overall description of how people
experience the phenomenon (Leedy & Ormrod,2010).
Pros and Cons of Phenomenological Studies
Phenomenological studies give researchers a comprehensive vie
w of a particular phenomenon, which is experienced by many bu
t illumined bystudying the subjective responses of a few. Unstru
ctured interviews provide a wealth of data while allowing partic
ipants to describe theirexperiences in their own way and under t
heir own terms. Phenomenological studies are rich in personal e
xperiences and provide a morecomplete or holistic view of what
people experience.

Phenomenological studies can also be flawed if the interviews v
eer off topic or communication misunderstandings crop up. For
example, somerecorded information may be difficult to understa
nd. In addition, interviews, data analysis, and data interpretatio
n can be influenced byresearcher bias regarding the experience.
As mentioned previously, if a researcher has personally experie
nced the phenomenon being studied(rape would be an emotional
ly charged example), it is possible that he or she may bring prec
onceived notions or prejudices to the study, whichwill in turn in
fluence how the data are collected and interpreted.
Grounded Theory Study (Qualitative Design)
Unlike most qualitative research, grounded theory does not begi
n from a theoretical perspective or theory but rather utilizes dat
a that arecollected to develop new theories or hypotheses. Accor
ding to Smith and Davis (2010), "A grounded theory is one that
is uncovered, developed,and conditionally confirmed through co
llecting and making sense of data related to the issue at hand" (
p. 54). Thus, theories are built from"grounded" data that have b
een systematically analyzed and reanalyzed. Grounded theory is
typically used in qualitative research; however,grounded theory
can utilize either qualitative or quantitative data (Glaser, 2008)
, or a mixture of the two. As Glaser posits, grounded theory isno
t only considered a qualitative method but a general method in r
esearch. For example, you may use grounded theory as the only
method foryour qualitative study, or you may choose to use it as
the first step toward identifying constructs and generating hypo
theses about theirrelationships to one another. You may then wa
nt to employ a quantitative, cause-and-
effect design to further test your hypotheses that weredeveloped
from your grounded theory study.
Grounded theory is especially useful for exploring the relations
hips and behaviors of groups that either have not been previousl
y studied orhave been inadequately studied. Grounded theory ha
s been used to study a wide variety of topics, such as stress man
agement in Olympicchampions (Fletcher & Sakar, 2012), the rol

e of leaders in knowledge management (Lakshman, 2007), reflec
tions of therapists during role-
playing sessions (Rober, Elliot, Buysse, Loots, & Corte, 2008),
normalizing risky sexual behaviors in female adolescents (Weis
s, Jampol, Lievano,Smith, & Wurster, 2008), and team leadershi
p during trauma resuscitation (Xiao, Seagull, Mackenzie, & Klei
n, 2004), to name a few. Whenchoosing to utilize the grounded t
heory approach, the idea is to select a topic that has been minim
ally explored.
Steps in Grounded Theory Research
In grounded theory research, data are simultaneously collected,
coded, and analyzed. This procedure differs from quantitative m
ethods becauseduring the research process, data collection and a
nalysis do not occur sequentially. Rather, in grounded theory, d
ata analysis begins almostimmediately when data collection star
ts. Grounded theory can utilize a variety of data collection techn
iques, including interviews, observations,focus groups, historica
l records, videotapes, diaries, news reports, and any other form
of data that is relevant to the research question (Leedy &Ormro
d, 2010), although in-
depth interviews are the most commonly used method.
One of the most widely used approaches to data analysis in grou
nded theory is the one suggested by Strauss and Corbin (1990).
In thisapproach, data analysis begins by developing categories t
o classify the data. This process, called open coding, involves t
he researcher labelingand organizing the data into categories or
themes and smaller subcategories that describe the phenomenon
being investigated. In this step,initial coding is generally guided
by some of the literature review, as well as by topic guides dev
eloped by the researcher that direct the codingof themes and cat
egories, based upon the study's research questions. Glaser (1978
) suggests three questions to be used in generating andidentifyin
g open codes:
1. What is this data a study of?
2. What category does this incident indicate?

3. What is actually happening in the data?
The next step in data analysis is axial coding, which involves fi
nding connections or relationships between the categories and s
ubcategories(Smith & Davis, 2010). Strauss (1987) indicates tha
t axial coding should involve the examination of antecedent con
ditions, interactions amongsubjects, strategies, tactics, and cons
equences. The idea here is to fit together all the pieces, similar t
o a jigsaw puzzle. Strauss and Corbin(1990) further suggest that
axial coding focus on asking the questions Who, When, Where,
Why, How, and With what consequences. As newdata are collec
ted, the researcher will move constantly between data collection
, open coding, and axial coding to refine the categories. Alsodur
ing this process, hypotheses are generated and continually teste
d, based on new data coming in. Data collection and analysis co
ntinue untilthe categories are completely saturated. Saturation o
ccurs when no additional supporting or disconfirming data are b
eing found to develop acategory. Thus, saturation occurs when
we have learned everything that we can about a category.
The final step, selective coding, involves the researcher combini
ng the categories and their interrelationships into theoretical co
nstructs or a"story line that describes what happens in the pheno
menon being studied" (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010, p. 143). In other
words, the researcher isintegrating and refining the categories s
o that the categories can be related to the core categories, or cat
egories that lie at the core of thetheory being generated. It is fro
m this process that theories are generated.
To illustrate the process of grounded theory research, consider a
n investigation of the active or passive roles played by compani
ons whoaccompany patients to their dental appointments. To ex
amine how these companions affect the interactions between the
patient and the dentalprovider, we could begin collecting data u
sing field notes and audio recordings. Next we would compare t
he interactions among companions,patients, and dentists by asse
ssing their similarities and differences. We would then identify
codes from the initial data collected, and developcategories to o
rganize the codes. The following step would be to develop hypo

theses about the patterns we observed. Next, we would continue
to collect and analyze data for an extended period to test those h
ypotheses and develop more patterns. We would continue collec
ting data andrefining hypotheses until we were able to account f
or and explain all examples (the saturation point). We would the
n generate a theory fromthe data regarding the roles that compa
nions play when attending dental appointments with patients.
Pros and Cons of Grounded Theory Studies
Grounded theory gives the researcher significant flexibility with
respect to the types of data collection methods and the ability t
o readjust theinvestigation as new data are being collected (Hou
ser, 2009). Grounded theory also provides a thorough analysis o
f the data, which can lead tofairly solid theories or hypotheses a
bout a particular phenomenon. Additionally, through systematic
data collection and analysis procedures, theresearcher is able to
explore the complexity of the problem, which often produces ric
her and more informative results.
Despite the advantages of being able to develop theories from d
ata collected, there are some disadvantages to grounded theory.
Probably thebiggest disadvantage involves the difficulty in man
aging large amounts of data. Since there are no standard guideli
nes regarding how to identifycategories, the novice researcher
may have difficulty developing categories and analyzing the dat
a appropriately. Identifying when a category hasbecome saturate
d and when a theory has been completely formed can also be dif
ficult and requires some experience. Additionally, groundedtheo
ry research can be very time consuming and tedious.
Case Studies (Qualitative or Descriptive Design)
At the 1996 meeting of the American Psychological Association
(APA), James Pennebaker—
chair of psychology at the University of Texas atAustin—
delivered an invited address, describing his research on the bene
fits of therapeutic writing. Rather than follow the expected rout
e ofshowing graphs and statistical tests to support his arguments

, Pennebaker told a story. In the mid-
1980s, when Pennebaker's lab was starting tostudy the effects of
structured writing on physical and psychological health, one st
udy participant was an American soldier who had served inthe V
ietnam War. Like many others, this soldier had had difficulty ad
justing to what had happened during the war and consequent tro
ublereintegrating into "normal" civilian life. In Pennebaker's stu
dy, he was asked to simply spend 15 minutes per day, over the c
ourse of a week,writing about a traumatic experience—
in this case, his tour of duty in Vietnam. At the end of this week
, as you might expect, this veteran feltawful; these were unpleas
ant memories that he had not relived in over a decade. But durin
g the next few weeks, amazing things started tohappen. He slept
better, he made fewer visits to his doctor, and he even reconnec
ted with his wife after a long separation.
Pennebaker's presentation is an example of a case study that pro
vides a detailed, in-
depth analysis of one person over a period of time.Although this
case study was collected as part of a larger quantitative experi
ment, case studies are usually conducted in a therapeutic setting
and involve a series of interviews. An interviewer will typically
study the subject in detail, recording everything from direct qu
otes andobservations to his or her own interpretations. We enco
untered this technique briefly in Chapter 2 (Section 2.1, Overvie
w of Research Designs),in discussing Oliver Sacks's case studie
s of individuals learning to live with neurological impairments.
Pros and Cons of Case Studies
In psychology, case studies are a form of qualitative research; t
hus, they represent the lowest point on our continuum of control
. Because theyinvolve one person at a time, without a control gr
oup, case studies are often unsystematic. That is, the participant
s are chosen because they tella compelling story or because they
represent an unusual set of circumstances rather than being sele
cted randomly. Studying these individualsallows for a great deal
of exploration, which can often inspire future research. Howeve

r, it is nearly impossible to generalize from one case studyto the
larger population. In addition, because the case study includes
both direct observation and the researcher's interpretation, there
is a riskthat a researcher's biases might influence the interpreta
tions. For example, Pennebaker's investment in demonstrating th
at writing has healthbenefits could have led to more positive int
erpretations of the Vietnam veteran's outcomes. However, in thi
s particular case study, Pennebaker'shypothesis about the benefi
ts of writing was supported because his findings mirror those se
en in hundreds of controlled experimental studiesthat involved t
housands of people. This body of work allows us to feel confide
nt about the conclusions from the single case.
Case studies have two distinct advantages over other forms of re
search. First is the simple fact that anecdotes are persuasive. De
spitePennebaker's nontraditional approach to a scientific talk, th
e audience came away utterly convinced of the benefits of thera
peutic writing. And,despite the fact that Oliver Sacks studied on
e neurological patient at a time, the stories in his books shed ve
ry convincing light on the ability ofhumans to adapt to their circ
umstances and have a wide appeal to the lay reader. Second, cas
e studies provide a useful way to study rarepopulations and indi
viduals with rare conditions. For example, from a scientific poin
t of view, the ideal might be to gather a random sample ofindivi
duals living with severe memory impairment due to alcohol abu
se and conduct some sort of controlled study in a laboratory env
ironment.This approach could allow us to make causal statement
s about the results, as we will discuss in Chapter 5 (Section 5.4,
Experimental Designs).However, from a practical point of view
, this study would be nearly impossible to conduct, making case
studies such as Sacks's interviews withWilliam Thompson the b
est strategy for understanding this condition in depth.
Examples of Case Studies
Throughout the history of psychology, case studies have been us
ed to address a number of important questions and to provide a
starting pointfor controlled quantitative studies. For example, in

developing his theories of cognitive development, the Swiss ps
ychologist Jean Piaget studiedthe way that his own children dev
eloped and changed their thinking styles. Piaget proposed that c
hildren would progress through a series offour stages in the way
that they approached the world—
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal o
perational—
with eachstage involving more sophisticated cognitive skills tha
n the previous stage. By observing his own children, Piaget noti
ced preliminary support forthis theory and later was able to con
duct more controlled research with larger populations.
Perhaps one of the most famous case studies in psychology is th
e story of Phineas Gage, a 19th-
century railroad worker who suffered severebrain damage. In Se
ptember of 1848, Gage was working with a team to blast large s
ections of rock to make way for new rail lines. After a largehole
was drilled into a section of rock, Gage's job was to pack the h
ole with gunpowder, sand, and a fuse and then tamp it down wit
h a longcylindrical iron rod (known as a "tamping rod"). On this
particular occasion, it seems Gage forgot to pack in the sand. S
o when the iron rodstruck gunpowder, the powder exploded, sen
ding the 3-
foot long iron rod through his face, behind his left eye, and out
the top of his head.Against all odds, Gage survived this incident
with relatively few physical side effects. However, everyone ar
ound him noticed that his personalityhad changed—
Gage became more impulsive, violent, and argumentative. Gage'
s physician, John Harlow, reported the details of this case in an
1868 article. The following passage is a great example of the ric
h detail that is often characteristic of case studies:
Courtesy Everett Collection
Various views show an iron rodembedded in Phineas Gage's
(1823–1860)skull.
He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profani
ty (which was not previously hiscustom), manifesting but little

deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when i
tconflicts with his desires. A child in his intellectual capacity a
nd manifestations, he has the animalpassions of a strong man. P
revious to his injury, although untrained in the schools, he poss
esseda well-
balanced mind, and was looked upon by those who knew him as
a shrewd, smartbusinessman, very energetic and persistent in ex
ecuting all his plans of operation. In this regardhis mind was ra
dically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances
said he was "nolonger Gage." (Harlow, 1868, pp. 339–342)
Gage's transformation ultimately inspired a large body of work i
n psychology and neuroscience thatattempts to understand the c
onnections between brain areas and personality. The area of his
braindestroyed by the tamping rod is known as the frontal lobe,
now understood to play a critical role inimpulse control, plannin
g, and other high-
level thought processes. Gage's story is a perfect illustration oft
he pros and cons of case studies. On the one hand, it is difficult
to determine exactly how much thebrain injury affected his beha
vior because he is only one person. On the other hand, Gage's tr
agedyinspired researchers to think about the connections among
mind, brain, and personality. As a result, we now have a vast—
and still growing—
understanding of the brain. This illustrates a key point about cas
e studies: Although individual cases provide limited knowledge
about people ingeneral, they often lead researchers to conduct a
dditional work that does lead to generalizable knowledge.
Qualitative Versus Quantitative Approaches
Case studies tend to be qualitative more often than not. The goa
l of this method is to study a particular case in depth as a way t
o learn moreabout a rare phenomenon. In both Pennebaker's stud
y of the Vietnam veteran and Harlow's study of Phineas Gage, t
he researcher approachedthe interview process as a way to gathe
r information and learn from the bottom up about the interviewe
e's experience. However, it is certainlypossible for a case study

to represent quantitative research. This is often the case when re
searchers conduct a series of case studies, learningfrom the first
one of the initial few and then developing hypotheses to test on
future cases. For example, a researcher could use the case ofPhi
neas Gage as a starting point for hypotheses about frontal lobe i
njury, perhaps predicting that other cases would show similar ch
anges inpersonality. Another way in which case studies can add
a quantitative element is for researchers to conduct analyses wit
hin a single subject. Forexample, a researcher could study a pati
ent with brain damage for several years following an injury, trac
king the association betweendeterioration of brain regions with
changes in personality and emotional responses. At the end of th
e day, though, these examples would stillsuffer from the primar
y downside of case studies: Because they study a single individ
ual, it is difficult to generalize their findings.Research: Thinkin
g CriticallyAcupuncture of Benefit to Those with Unexplained S
ymptoms
By the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Exeter, U
K
Attending frequently with medically unexplained symptoms is d
istressing for both patient and doctor. Inthese settings, effective
treatment or management options are limited: One in five patie
nts hassymptoms that remain unexplained by conventional medi
cine. Studies have shown that the cost to theNational Health Ser
vice (NHS, United Kingdom) of managing the treatment of a pat
ient with medicallyunexplained symptoms can be twice that of a
patient with a diagnosis.
A research team from the Institute of Health Services Research,
Peninsula Medical School, University ofExeter, has carried out
a randomised control trial and a linked interview study regardin
g 80 such patientsfrom GP (General Practitioner) practices acro
ss London to investigate their experiences of having five-
element acupuncture added to their usual care. This is the first t
rial of traditional acupuncture forpeople with unexplained symp
toms.
The results of the research are published in the British Journal o

f General Practice. They reveal thatacupuncture had a significan
t and sustained benefit for these patients and, consequently, acu
puncturecould be safely added to the therapies used by practitio
ners when treating frequently attending patientswith medically u
nexplained symptoms.
The patient group was made up of 80 adults, 80% female, with a
n average age of 50 years and from avariety of ethnic backgroun
ds who had consulted their GP at least eight times in the past ye
ar. Nearly60% reported musculoskeletal health problems, of whi
ch almost two thirds had been present for a year.
In the 3 months before taking part in the study, the 80 patients h
ad accounted for the following NHSexperiences: 21 patient in-
days; 106 outpatient clinic visits; 52 hospital clinic visits (for tr
eatments suchas physiotherapy, chiropody, and counselling); 44
hospital visits for investigations (including 10 magneticresonan
ce imaging [MRI]scans); and 75 visits to non-
NHS practitioners such as opticians, dentists, andcomplementar
y therapists.
The patients were randomly divided into an acupuncture group a
nd a control group. Eight acupuncturistsadministered individual
five-
element acupuncture to the acupuncture group immediately, up t
o 12sessions over 26 weeks. The same numbers of treatments w
ere made available to the control groupafter 26 weeks.
At 26 weeks, the patients were asked to complete a number of q
uestionnaires including theindividualized health status question
naire "Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile."
The acupuncture group registered a significantly improved over
all score when compared with the controlgroup. They also recor
ded improved well-
being but did not show any change in GP and other clinicalvisits
and the number of medications they were taking. Between 26 a
nd 52 weeks, the acupuncturegroup maintained their improveme
nt and the control group, now receiving their acupuncturetreatm
ents, showed a "catch-up" improvement.
The associated qualitative study, which focused on the patients'

experiences, supported the quantitativework. This element ident
ified that the participating patients had a variety of long-
standing symptomsand disability, including chronic pain, fatigu
e, and emotional problems, which affected their ability towork,
socialize, and carry out everyday tasks. A lack of a convincing
diagnosis to explain their symptomsled to frustration, worry, an
d low mood.
Participating patients reported that their acupuncture consultatio
ns became increasingly valuable. Theyappreciated the amount of
time they had with each acupuncturist and the interactive and h
olistic natureof the sessions—
there was a sense that the practitioners were listening to their co
ncerns and, viatherapy, doing something positive about them.
As a result, many patients were encouraged to take an active rol
e in their treatment, resulting incognitive and behavioural lifest
yle changes, such as a new self-
awareness about what caused stress intheir lives, and a subseque
nt ability to deal with stress more effectively, and taking their o
wn initiativesbased on advice from the acupuncturists about diet
, exercise, relaxation, and social activities.
Comments from participating patients included: "The energy is t
he main thing I have noticed. You know,yeah, it's marvellous!
Where I was going out and cutting my grass, now I'm going out
and cutting myneighbour's after because he's elderly"; "I had to
reduce my medication. That's the big help actually,because medi
cation was giving me more trouble . . . side effects"; and "It kin
d of boosts you, somehowor another."
Dr. Charlotte Paterson, who managed the randomised control tri
al and the longitudinal study of patients'experiences, commente
d: "Our research indicates that the addition of up to 12 five-
element acupunctureconsultations to the usual care experienced
by the patients in the trial was feasible and acceptable andresult
ed in improved overall well-
being that was sustained for up to a year.
This is the first trial to investigate the effectiveness of acupunct
ure treatment to those with unexplainedsymptoms, and the next

development will be to carry out a cost-
effectiveness study with a longer follow-
up period. While further studies are required, this particular stu
dy suggests that GPs may recommend aseries of five-
element acupuncture consultations to patients with unexplained
symptoms as a safe andpotentially effective intervention.
Paterson added: "Such intervention could not only result in pote
ntial resource savings for the NHS, butwould also improve the q
uality of life for a group of patients for whom traditional biome
dicine has littlein the way of effective diagnosis and treatment."
Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry. (2011, May 27).
Acupuncture and those with unexplained symptoms. From Pater
son,
C., Taylor, R.,Griffiths, P., Britten, N., Rugg, S., Bridges, J., M
cCallum, B., Kite, G. (2011). Acupuncture for 'frequent attender
s'
with medically unexplainedsymptoms: a randomised controlled t
rial (CACTUS Study). British Journal of General Practice,
Volume 61, Number 587, June 2011 , pp. e295–
e305(11) and Rugg, S. , Paterson, C., Britten, N., Bridges, J., G
riffiths, P. (2011).
Traditional acupuncture for people with medically unexplaineds
ymptoms: a longitudinal qualitative study of patients' experienc
es. British Journal of General Practice, Volume 61, Number 587
, June 2011 , pp.e306–e315(10).
Think about it:
1.
In this study, researchers interviewed acupuncture patients usin
g open-ended questions and
recordedtheir verbal responses, which is a common qualitative r
esearch technique. What
advantages does thisapproach have over administering a quantit
ative questionnaire with multiple-choice items?
2.
What are some advantages of adding a qualitative element to a c
ontrolled medical trial like this?

3.
What would be some disadvantages of relying exclusively on thi
s approach?
Archival Research (Qualitative or Descriptive Design)
Moving slightly further along the continuum of control, we com
e to archival research, which involves drawing conclusions by a
nalyzing existingsources of data, including both public and priv
ate records. Sociologist David Phillips (1997) hypothesized that
media coverage of suicides wouldlead to "copycat" suicides. He
tested this hypothesis by gathering archival data from two sour
ces: front-page newspaper articles devoted tohigh-
profile suicides and the number of fatalities in the 11-
day period following coverage of the suicide. By examining thes
e patterns of data,Phillips found support for his hypothesis. Spe
cifically, fatalities appeared to peak 3 days after coverage of a s
uicide, and increased publicity wasassociated with a greater pea
k in fatalities.
Pros and Cons of Archival Research
It is difficult to imagine a better way to test Phillips's hypothesi
s about copycat suicides. You could never randomly assign peop
le to learn aboutsuicides and then wait to see whether they kille
d themselves. Nor could you interview people right before they
committed suicide to determinewhether they were being inspire
d by media coverage. Archival research provides a way to test t
he hypothesis by examining existing data andthereby avoids mo
st of the ethical and practical problems of other research design
s. Related to this point, archival research also neatly sidestepsis
sues of participant reactivity, or the tendency of people to behav
e differently when they are aware of being observed. Any time y
ou conductresearch in a laboratory, participants are aware that t
hey are in a research study and may not behave in a completely
natural manner. Incontrast, archival data involve making use of
records of people's natural (unstudied) behaviors. The subjects
of Phillips's study of copycatsuicides were individuals who deci

ded to kill themselves and who had no awareness that they woul
d be part of a research study.
Archival research is also an excellent strategy for examining tre
nds and changes over time. For example, much of the evidence f
or globalwarming comes from observing upward trends in recor
ded temperatures around the globe. To gather this evidence, rese
archers dig into existingarchives of weather patterns and conduc
t statistical tests on the changes over time. Psychologists and ot
her social scientists also make use ofthis approach to examine p
opulation-
level changes in everything from suicide rates to voting patterns
over time. These comparisons cansometimes involve a blend of
archival and current data. For example, a great deal of social ps
ychology research has been dedicated tounderstanding people's
stereotypes about other groups. In a classic series of studies kno
wn as the "Princeton Trilogy," researchers documentedthe stere
otypes held by Princeton students over several decades (1933 to
1969). Social psychologist Stephanie Madon and her colleagues
(2001)collected a new round of data but also conducted a new a
nalysis of this archival data. These new analyses suggested that,
over time, peoplehave become more willing to use stereotypes
about other groups, even as stereotypes themselves have become
less negative.
One final advantage of archival research is that once you manag
e to gain access to the relevant archives, it requires relatively fe
w resources. Thetypical laboratory experiment involves one part
icipant at a time, sometimes requiring the dedicated attention of
more than one researchassistant over a period of an hour or mor
e. But once you have assembled your data from the archives, it i
s a relatively simple matter to conductstatistical analyses. In a 2
001 article, the psychologists Shannon Stirman and James Penne
baker used a text-
analysis computer program tocompare the language of poets wh
o committed suicide (e.g., Sylvia Plath) with the language of si
milar poets who had not committed suicide(e.g., Denise Leverto
v). In total, these researchers examined 300 poems from 20 poet

s, half of whom had committed suicide. Consistent withÉmile D
urkheim's theory of suicide as a form of "social disengagement,
" Stirman and Pennebaker (2001) found that suicidal poets used
moreself-
references and fewer references to other people in their poems.
But here's the impressive part: Once they had assembled their ar
chive ofpoems, it took only seconds for their computer program
to analyze the language and generate a statistical profile of each
poet's verbal output.
Overall, however, archival research is still relatively low on our
continuum of control. As a researcher, you have to accept the a
rchival data inwhatever form they exist, with no control over th
e way they were collected. For instance, in Stephanie Madon's (
2001) reanalysis of the"Princeton Trilogy" data, she had to trust
that the original researchers had collected the data in a reasona
ble and unbiased way. In addition,because archival data often re
present natural behavior, it can be difficult to categorize and or
ganize responses in a meaningful and quantitativeway. The upsh
ot is that archival research often requires some creativity on the
researcher's part—
such as analyzing poetry using a text analysisprogram. In many
cases, as we discuss next, the process of analyzing archives inv
olves developing a coding strategy for extracting the mostreleva
nt information.
Content Analysis—Analyzing Archives
In most of our examples so far, the data have come in a straightf
orward, ready-to-
analyze form. That is, it is relatively simple to count thenumber
of suicides, track the average temperature, or compare response
s to questionnaires about stereotyping over time. In other cases,
thedata can come in a sloppy, disorganized mass of information.
What do you do if you want to analyze literature, media images
, or changes inrace relations on television? These types of data
can yield incredibly useful information, provided you can devel
op a strategy for extracting it.

Mark Frank and Tom Gilovich—
both psychologists at Cornell University—
were interested in whether cultural associations with the color b
lackwould have an effect on behavior. In virtually all cultures, b
lack is associated with evil—
the bad guys wear black hats; we have a "black day"when things
turn sour; and we are excluded from social groups by being bla
cklisted or blackballed. Frank and Gilovich (1988) wondered wh
ether"a cue as subtle as the color of a person's clothing" (p. 74)
would influence aggressive behavior. To test this hypothesis, th
ey examinedaggressive behaviors in professional football and h
ockey games, comparing teams whose uniforms were black with
teams who wore othercolors. Imagine for a moment that this wa
s your research study. Professional sporting events contain a we
alth of behaviors and events. Howwould you extract information
on the relationship between uniform color and aggressive behav
ior?
Frank and Gilovich (1988) solved this problem by examining pu
blic records of penalty yards (football) and penalty minutes (hoc
key) becausethese represent instances of punishment for excessi
vely aggressive behavior, as recognized by the referees. And, in
both sports, the size of thepenalty increases according to the de
gree of aggression. These penalty records were obtained from th
e central offices of both leagues, coveringthe period from 1970 t
o 1986. Consistent with their hypothesis, teams with black unifo
rms were "uncommonly aggressive" (p. 76). Moststrikingly, two
NHL hockey teams changed their uniforms to black during the
period under study and showed a marked increase in penaltymin
utes while sporting the new uniforms!
But even this analysis is relatively straightforward in that it inv
olved data that were already in quantitative form (penalty yards
and minutes). Inmany cases, the starting point is a messy collect
ion of human behavior. In a pair of journal articles, psychologis
t Russell Weigel and hiscolleagues (1980; 1995) examined the p
ortrayal of race relations on prime-
time television. In order to do this, they had to make several crit

icaldecisions about what to analyze and how to quantify it. The
process of systematically extracting and analyzing the contents
of a collection ofinformation is known as content analysis. In es
sence, content analysis involves developing a plan to code and r
ecord specific behaviors andevents in a consistent way. We can
break this down into a three-step process:
Step 1—Identify Relevant Archives
iStockphoto/Thinkstock
A personal letter is an example of a data
source that a researcher would need to obtain permission to use.
Before we develop our coding scheme, we have to start by findi
ng the most appropriate source of data.Sometimes the choice is
fairly obvious. If you want to compare temperature trends, the
most relevantarchives will be weather records. If you want to tr
ack changes in stereotyping over time, the mostrelevant archive
will comprise questionnaire data assessing people's attitudes. In
other cases, thisdecision involves careful consideration of both
your research question and practical concerns. Frank andGilovic
h decided to study penalties in professional sports because these
data were both readily available(from the central league offices
) and highly relevant to their hypothesis about aggression and u
niformcolor.
Because these penalty records were publicly available, the resea
rchers were able to access them easily.But if your research ques
tion involved sensitive or personal information—
such as hospital records orpersonal correspondence—
you would need to obtain permission from a responsible party.
Let's say youwanted to analyze the love letters written by soldie
rs serving overseas and then try to predictrelationship stability.
Because these letters would be personal, perhaps rather intimate
, you would needpermission from each person involved before p
roceeding with the study. Or, say you wanted to analyzethe corr
elation between the length of a person's hospital stay and the nu
mber of visitors he or shereceives. This would most likely requi

re permission from both hospital administrators, doctors, and th
epatients themselves. However you manage to obtain access to p
rivate records, it is absolutely essentialto protect the privacy an
d anonymity of the people involved. This would mean, for exam
ple, usingpseudonyms and/or removing names and other identifi
ers from published excerpts of personal letters.
Step 2—Sample From the Archives
In Weigel's research on race relations, the most obvious choice
of archives consisted of snippets of both television programmin
g andcommercials. But this decision was only the first step of th
e process. Should they examine every second of every program
ever aired ontelevision? Naturally not; instead, their approach w
as to take a smaller sample of television programming. We will
discuss sampling in moredetail in Chapter 4 (Section 4.3, Sampl
ing From the Population), but the basic process involves taking
a smaller, representative collection of thebroader population in
order to conserve resources. Weigel and colleagues (1980) decid
ed to sample one week's worth of prime-
timeprogramming from 1978, assembling videotapes of everythi
ng broadcast by the three major networks at the time (CBS, NB
C, and ABC). Theynarrowed their sample by eliminating news, s
ports, and documentary programming because their hypotheses
were centered on portrayals offictional characters of different ra
ces.
Step 3—Code and Analyze the Archives
The third and most involved step is to develop a system for codi
ng and analyzing the archival data. Even a sample of one week's
worth ofprime-time programming contains a near-
infinite amount of information! In the race-
relations studies, Weigel et al. elected to code four keyvariables
: (1) the total human appearance time, or time during which peo
ple were on-
screen; (2) the Black appearance time, in which Blackcharacters
appeared on-screen; (3) the cross-

racial appearance time, in which characters of two races were o
n-screen at the same time; and (4)the cross-
racial interaction time, in which cross-
racial characters interacted. In the original (1980) paper, these a
uthors reported that Blackcharacters were shown only 9% of the
time, and cross-
racial interactions only 2% of the time. Fortunately, by the time
of their 1995 follow-
upstudy, the rate of Black appearances had doubled, and the rate
of cross-
racial interactions had more than tripled. However, there wasdis
couragingly little change in some of the qualitative dimensions t
hat they measured, including the degree of emotional connectio
n betweencharacters of different races.
This study also highlights the variety of options for coding com
plex behaviors. The four key ratings of "appearance time" consi
st of simplyrecording the amount of time that each person or gro
up is on-
screen. In addition, the researchers assessed several abstract qua
lities ofinteraction using judges' ratings. The degree of emotion
al connection, for instance, was measured by having judges rate
the "extent to whichcross-
racial interactions were characterized by conditions promoting
mutual respect and understanding" (Weigel et al., 1980, p. 888).
As you'llremember from Chapter 2 (Section 2.2, Reliability and
Validity), any time you use judges' ratings, it is important to co
llect ratings from morethan one rater and to make sure they agre
e in their assessments.
Your goal as an archival researcher is to find a systematic way t
o record the variables most relevant to your hypothesis. As with
any researchdesign, the key is to start with clear operational de
finitions that capture the variables of interest. This involves bot
h deciding the mostappropriate variables and the best way to me
asure these variables. For example, if you analyze written comm
unication, you might decide tocompare words, sentences, charac
ters, or themes across a sample. A study of newspaper coverage

might code the amount of space or numberof stories dedicated t
o a topic. Also, a study of television news might code the amou
nt of airtime given to different points of view. The beststrategy
in each case will be the one that best represents the variables of
interest.
Qualitative Versus Quantitative Approaches
Archival research can represent either qualitative or quantitative
research, depending on the researcher's approach to the archive
s. Most of ourexamples in this section represent the quantitative
approach: Frank and Gilovich (1988) counted penalties to test t
heir hypothesis aboutaggression; and Stirman and Pennebaker (2
001) counted self-
referential words in poetry to test their hypothesis about suicide
. But the race-
relations work by Weigel and colleagues (1980; 1995) represent
s a nice mix of qualitative and quantitative research. In their ini
tial 1980 study,the primary goal was to document the portrayal
of race relations on prime-
time television (i.e., qualitative). But in the 1995 follow-
up study, theprimary goal was to determine whether these portra
yals had changed over a 15-
year period. That is, they tested the hypothesis that racerelation
s were portrayed in a more positive light (i.e., quantitative). An
other way in which archival research can be qualitative is to stu
dy open-
ended narratives without attempting to impose structure upon th
em. This approach is commonly used to study free-
flowing text such aspersonal correspondence or letters to the edi
tor in a newspaper. A researcher approaching these from a quali
tative perspective would attemptto learn from these narratives b
ut without imposing structure via the use of content analyses.
Observational Research (Qualitative or Descriptive Design)
Moving further along the continuum of control, we come to the
descriptive design with the greatest amount of researcher contro

l. Observational research involves studies that directly observe
behavior and record these observations in an objective and syste
matic way. Inprevious psychology courses, you may have encou
ntered the concept of attachment theory, which argues that an in
fant's bond with his or herprimary caregiver has implications fo
r later social and emotional development. Mary Ainsworth, a Ca
nadian developmental psychologist, andJohn Bowlby, a British
psychologist and psychiatrist, articulated this theory in the early
1960s, arguing that children can form either "secure" ora variet
y of "insecure" attachments with their caregivers (Ainsworth &
Bell, 1970; Bowlby, 1963).
In order to assess these classifications, Ainsworth and Bell (197
0) developed an observational technique called the "strange situ
ation." Motherswould arrive at their laboratory with their childr
en for a series of structured interactions, including having the m
other play with the infant, leavehim or her alone with a stranger
, and then return to the room after a brief absence. The research
ers were most interested in coding the ways inwhich the infant r
esponded to the various episodes (eight in total). One group of i
nfants, for example, showed curiosity when the mother leftbut t
hen returned to playing with their toys, trusting that she would r
eturn. Another group showed immediate distress when the moth
er leftand clung to her nervously upon her return. Based on thes
e and other behavioral observations, Ainsworth and colleagues c
lassified these groupsof infants as "securely" and "insecurely" a
ttached to their mothers, respectively.Research: Making an Impa
ctHarry Harlow
In the 1950s, U.S. psychologist Harry Harlow conducted a land
mark series of studies with rhesusmonkeys on the mother–
infant bond. While his research would be considered unethical b
ycontemporary standards, the results of his work revealed the i
mportance of affection, attachment, andlove on healthy childhoo
d development.
Prior to Harlow's findings, it was believed that infants attached
to their mothers as a part of a drive tofulfill exclusively biologi
cal needs, in this case obtaining food and water and to avoid pai

n (Herman,2007; van der Horst & van der Veer, 2008). In an eff
ort to clarify the reasons that infants so clearly needmaternal ca
re, Harlow removed rhesus monkeys from their natural mothers
several hours after birth,giving the young monkeys a choice bet
ween two surrogate "mothers." Both mothers were made of wire,
but one was bare and one was covered in terry cloth. Although t
he wire mother provided food via anattached bottle, the monkey
s preferred the softer, terry-
cloth mother, even though the latter providedno food (Harlow &
Zimmerman, 1958; Herman, 2007).
Further research with the terry-
cloth mothers contributed to the understanding of healthy attach
mentand childhood development (van der Horst & van der Veer,
2008). When the young monkeys were giventhe option to explo
re a room with their terry-
cloth mothers and had the cloth mothers in the room withthem, t
hey used the mothers as a safe base. Similarly, when exposed to
novel stimuli such as a loudnoise, the monkeys would seek com
fort from the cloth-
covered surrogate (Harlow & Zimmerman, 1958).However, whe
n the monkeys were left in the room without their cloth mothers
, they reacted poorly—
freezing up, crouching, crying, and screaming.
A control group of monkeys who were never exposed to either t
heir real mothers or one of thesurrogates revealed stunted forms
of attachment and affection. They were left incapable of formin
glasting emotional attachments with other monkeys (Herman, 20
07). Based on this research, Harlowdiscovered the importance o
f proper emotional attachment, stressing the importance of physi
cal andemotional bonding between infants and mothers (Harlow
& Zimmerman, 1958; Herman, 2007).
Harlow's influential research led to improved understanding of
maternal bonding and child development(Herman, 2007). His re
search paved the way for improvements in infant and child care
and in helpingchildren cope with separation from their mothers
(Bretherton, 1992; Du Plessis, 2009). In addition,Harlow's work

contributed to the improved treatment of children in orphanage
s, hospitals, day carecenters, and schools (Herman, 2007; van de
r Horst & van der Veer, 2008).
Pros and Cons of Observational Research
Observational designs are well suited to a wide range of researc
h questions, provided the questions can be addressed through di
rectlyobservable behaviors and events; for example, if the resea
rcher is able to observe parent–
child interactions, nonverbal cues to emotion, or evencrowd beh
avior. However, if a researcher is interested in studying thought
processes—such as how mothers interpret their interactions—
thenobservation will not suffice. This harkens back to our discu
ssion of behavioral measures in Chapter 2 (Section 2.2, Reliabil
ity and Validity): Inexchange for giving up access to internal pr
ocesses, you gain access to unfiltered behavioral responses.
To capture these unfiltered behaviors, it is vital for the research
er to be as unobtrusive as possible. As we have already discusse
d, people have atendency to change their behavior when they ar
e being observed. In the bullying study by Craig and Pepler (19
97) discussed at the beginning ofthis chapter, the researchers us
ed video cameras to record children's behavior unobtrusively; ot
herwise, the occurrence of bullying might havebeen artificially l
ow. If you conduct an observational study in a laboratory settin
g, there is no way to hide the fact that people are beingobserved
, but the use of one-
way mirrors and video recordings can help people to become co
mfortable with the setting (versus having anexperimenter starin
g at them across the table). If you conduct an observational stud
y out in the real world, there are even more possibilities forblen
ding into the background, including using observers who are lite
rally hidden. For example, let's say you hypothesize that people
are morelikely to pick up garbage when the weather is nicer. Ra
ther than station an observer with a clipboard by the trash can, y
ou could place someoneout of sight, standing behind a tree or pe
rhaps sitting on a park bench pretending to read a magazine. In

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